“Demolition” issue to be regulated by law

According to the initiators, the bill’s adoption will directly regulate the issue of compensation for the withdrawal of land plots for public use, prevent disputes and effectively resolve disputes in the field.

Until now, “demolitions” have been a symbol of property rights violations in Uzbekistan, and disputes have been settled only at the level of government decisions.

At the meeting of the Legislative Chamber, an objection was made to the item “for the establishment of special economic zones” in the draft law, which is one of the grounds for the seizure of land for public use in exchange for compensation.

At the suggestion of deputies, the bill removed the principle of “targeted use of the seized land” in the withdrawal of land for public use in exchange for compensation.

Returning to the meeting after the break, MPs said that the services of the staff of the Cadaster Chamber will be funded by the organization (local government or other state organization) that initiated the withdrawal of land plots for public use.

The main questions and answers were up to Article 13 of the bill. All other articles up to Article 42 were accepted without any objections.

After that, many active deputies, including Rasul Kusherbayev and Doniyor Ganiyev, said that the law was very important for the people and should be adopted as soon as possible. The law was then put to a vote in three readings and passed by the Legislative Chamber with the votes of 111 deputies.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate. Once it’s approved by the upper house of Oliy Majlis, the law will be submitted to the President for signature. The law signed by the President will come into force after its publication in the official media or within the period specified in the document itself.

The draft provides for the grounds for the withdrawal of land plots for public use in exchange for compensation, which are:

• allocation of land for defense and national security, the needs of protected natural areas, the establishment of special economic zones and their operation;
• fulfillment of obligations of the Republic of Uzbekistan arising from international agreements;
• identification and extraction of mineral deposits (except for common mineral deposits);
• roads and railways of national and local significance, airports, airfields, aeronautical facilities and aviation centers, railway transport facilities, bridges, subways, tunnels, engineering facilities and networks of energy and communication systems, space facilities, main pipelines, engineering-construction (reconstruction) of communication networks, irrigation and land reclamation systems;
• implementation of the approved master plans of settlements in terms of construction of facilities at the expense of the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
• implementation of projects envisaged in the state investment programs for the construction of public education, medical, cultural and social protection institutions at the expense of centralized investments.

The document is also expected to include the following new norms and mechanisms:

- open discussion with the participation of the media and their participation must be ensured by the initiator;
- ensuring mandatory audio and video recording of the process of open discussion by the initiator;
- the place of the public hearing should be close to the place of residence of the majority of right holders, the open discussion should be considered in the presence of two thirds of the right holders;
- the possibility of vacating the real estate object within six months after the payment of compensation;
- rules for calculating the social norm when providing other accommodation as compensation, as well as continuous monitoring of timely and complete payment of compensation through the single electronic information system of the State Register of Real Estate;
- decision of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city councils of people’s deputies on demolition of the object of real estate located on the seized land plot;
- decisions of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city councils on withdrawal of land plots for public use in exchange for compensation and demolition of real estate located on the seized land plot should be made only after a legal examination and a positive legal opinion possibility;
- in case of failure to reach an agreement with the right holder, to prevent the right holder from freely disposing of the property belonging to him in order to force him to sign the agreement, including disconnection of housing from communication facilities, blocking of entrances and exits to the real estate object; inadmissibility of creating obstructive conditions, etc.